Slow Motion
by Daggerella
Summary: Jon Moxley is stuck at home alone, and Roman is concerned that he may be losing his marbles. In an attempt to keep Jon company, Roman makes an surprise trip out to visit him, but will he make it there before even more high strangeness occurs?


It was past midnight when Roman finally got to his hotel, grouchy and jet-lagged on night 12 of a 14-day work trip. He had to make a couple of attempts to get the key into the door before finally aligning the card with the narrow slot and unlocking it, his hand shaky from a combination of extreme tiredness and hunger. He pushed his way in and threw his stuff down, not even bothering to turn the light on before flopping onto the bed face-first.

He let out a hearty sigh and kicked off his shoes, fully intending to order some food for delivery to eat before bed, but he made the classic mistake of thinking, "I'll just rest my eyes for a minute", and the next thing he knew, he was being awoken by the vibration of his phone in his front pants pocket. He rolled onto his back and held it in front of his face, squinting at the screen in the near-darkness.

The photo that came up was one of a beaming Jon posing next to none other than Bob Lazar, the man famous for his groundbreaking disclosure of some of the inner workings of Area 51 in the 1980's. No matter how many times he saw it, Roman always smiled at the memory of how excited Jon was to get to attend a MUFON conference in Las Vegas, and how he had sent him the pic immediately after the meet and greet, followed only by a long line of exclamation points and shocked-face emojis. It wasnt at all like him to send anyone pictures, much less use emojis, but, as Jon assertively pointed out numerous times, this wasnt just anybody- this was Bob Freaking Lazar and this is The Greatest Picture Ever (unless he happened to meet a Sasquatch in the wild someday and get a photo of it, which would obviously then become the new #1).

Roman smiled and picked up, putting him on speaker and tossing the phone onto the bed as he got up and turned on the bedside lamp. "Hey...what's up? Everything okay?"

The voice that responded was raspy and tinged with annoyance. "What the hell's that supposed to mean? Why wouldnt it be okay?" Then, quieter: "I just...miss you, that's all...that okay with you, your Highness?" He was trying to hide it, but his bristling energy traveled down the line despite his efforts to play it off.

Roman rolled his eyes, responding rather sarcastically, "Damn. Miss you too." He emptied the contents of his pants pockets onto the bed and unbuttoned his dress shirt as he walked over to the large mirror on the wall. "What's up?"

"What's up is, I can't sleep. And it fuckin' sucks. I think I've gotten about 3 hours of sleep in the last 4 days, and I'm losing my goddamn mind", Jon replied, his voice sounding more coarse than usual. "It's too quiet here. It's creepy as fuck."

Roman stopped in front of the mirror, making a confused face at his own reflection as he shrugged off his shirt. "Where are you at?" he asked, thinking he must also be traveling for work.

"I'm at home," Jon answered, an edge of anxiety undercutting his words. "And dude, I think there's some weird shit goin' on in the desert. The other night, I saw lights."

Roman chuckled under his breath. "Lights? What kind of lights?"

"This isn't a fucking joke, I'm serious, man!" Jon shot back testily. "God, why doesnt anybody believe me?"

Roman picked the phone up off the bed and took it off speaker. "I never said that, jeez, calm down. So...what did you see, exactly?"

The line went silent for a few tense moments, followed by the sound of Jon whispering "shit" and then responding with a hasty "I...I gotta go" before the call disconnected.

"The fuck?" said Roman quizzically. He knew from experience that leaving Jon alone for long periods of time with only his thoughts was never a good idea, and based on the way he was acting, Roman was quickly becoming very concerned for his mental state. He began to wonder if he should fly out there to keep him company, even if it was only for a couple of days.

Roman finished stripping down to his boxer briefs and got into bed, put his reading glasses on and then started looking for available flights to Vegas online. He had found one and was just about to purchase a ticket when his phone started to vibrate and the pic of Jon and Bob Lazar took over the screen once again. "Hey," Ro answered, unsure of which version of Jon was going to be on the other end this time. He really hoped it wouldn't be paranoid, conspiracy-theory Jon again, because that guy was a real pain in the ass to deal with.

The only sound at first was harsh, panicked breathing, followed by Jon saying "fuck" repeatedly. It sounded like he was running. And uncharacteristically fearful.

"Jon? Are you okay? What the-"

"FUCK, dude- I saw it!! I saw it! it was fucking HUGE!! Holy shit!" Jon shouted, on the verge of becoming hysterical.

"Okay, okay, calm down-" Roman implored, raising his voice.

"I saw it! I was in the house, and I looked out the window, and it was just...there, in the sky! In the FUCKING SKY, dude!! Behind my FUCKING HOUSE!!!" Jon yelled, steamrolling right over him. He still hadn't explained exactly what he had seen, but he was obviously terrified. His voice suddenly dropped down into an urgent whisper as he said, "I fuckin' told you, man. I fuckin' TOLD you! And you all thought I was crazy for wanting to build an underground bunker. I shoulda never let you talk me out of it!"

Roman shook his head, thoroughly confused. "Wait, what? What are you talking about? What did you see? Are you okay?" He had so many questions, he wasnt sure which to ask first. "Jon- h- hello?" He heard more rustling on the other end, along with a low electrical humming sound that grew in volume and intensity until Roman had to pull the phone away from his ear due to the discomfort. He looked at the screen just in time to see it go black. Not only did the call disconnect, but the phone completely shut down as well.

Ro still didnt know what was going on, but the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach was telling him that his friend was in trouble. He tried turning his phone back on but it started to become very hot in his hand and turned itself off again.

"Piece of crap phone...thanks for nothing, Apple," he griped, tossing it into his bag. He got up and started putting his clothes back on, making the snap decision to head to the airport and try to fly out to Las Vegas as soon as possible rather than waiting until morning. He was too rattled by that point to be able to sleep anyway. He just hoped that whatever was happening with Jon was being blown out of proportion, and that just having someone else around would maybe keep him grounded. The only thing that really bothered him was knowing that whatever it was that Jon had seen was strange enough to scare the shit of him, which as far as Roman was aware, was close to impossible.

Once he was completely dressed, Ro grabbed his luggage and headed down to the front desk to turn in his room key. He looked at his watch and sighed. It was almost 2 am and he still hadn't slept at all. It was going to be a several-hour flight, since he was currently on the opposite side of the country, so he figured he would just doze off on the plane. He just hoped that Jon would be okay until then.


End file.
